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A SWORD (TULWAR) FROM THE PERSONAL ARMOURY OF TIPU SULTAN (R. 1782-99) SERINGAPATAM, DECCAN, INDIA, DATED MAULUDI 1224 / 1796-97 AD

A SWORD (TULWAR) FROM THE PERSONAL ARMOURY OF TIPU SULTAN (R. 1782-99) SERINGAPATAM, DECCAN, INDIA, DATED MAULUDI 1224 / 1796-97 AD The large slightly curved unfullered steel blade double-edged at the tip, one side overlaid with a gilt nasta'liq inscription set within a cartouche, struck with a Mysore Haidar bubri control mark, the blued-steel hilt of typical tulwar form, the tiger head langet extensively inscribed in gold nasta'liq, the grip, knuckle-guard, and quillons similarly inscribed, the date in numerals on the underside of the quillon, the edges of the hilt with bubri tiger-stripe decoration, the disc pommel similarly decorated and with suspension loop fitting, blade cut down 25 ½in. (64.8cm.) longTipu Sultan of Mysore (1757-1799), By repute with the Kings of Hanover, Art market, Germany, by 1985, Private German Collection, and thence by descentOn the Hilt: On the grip, side A, in the teardrop shape, Qur'an VIII, sura al-anfal, v.40 (part); LVII, sura al-hadid, v.25 (part); XLVII, sura Muhammad, v.4 (part) Across the quillon, Qur'an XXXVII, sura as-saffat, vv.172-73 (part); and a prayer hasbi allah wa ni'am al-wakil 'God is sufficient for me and the best Disposer of affairs' Around the lion's head, Qur'an VIII, sura al-anfal, v.10 (part); VI, sura al-an'am, v.45 In the lion's head, asad allah al-ghalib 'The victorious lion of God (i.e. 'Ali)' Side B, in the teardrop shape, Qur'an II, sura al-baqarah, v.286 (part); VIII, sura al-anfal, v.12 (part) Across the quillon, Qur'an LVI, sura al-waqi'ah, v.13 (part); XII, sura yusuf, v.64 (part) In the lion's head, ya allah [ya] muhammad 'O God! O Muhammad!' In the mark on the lion's head, 'Haidar' On the underside of the pommel, in the border, Qur'an XVII, sura al-an'am, Qur'an LIV, sura al-qamar, v.44 (in part); XXIX, sura al-'ankabut, v.30 (part). On the underside of the pommel, in the inner band, Qur'an XXXVII, sura as-saffar, v.116; XXX, sura al-rum, vv.4-5 (part). On the pommel, repeated, allah On the ends of the quillons, ya allah ya nasir 'O God! O Giver of Victory'; ya muhammad ya 'ali 'O Muhammad! O 'Ali!' On the underside of the quillons, karkhana-yi huzur sana 1224 mawlud [y]a muhammad 'Imperial workshop Mauludi year 1224. O Muhammad!' On the pommel, repeated, allah On the exterior of the knuckle-guard, Qur'an III, sura ali 'imran, v.160 (in part); LIV, sura al-qamar, v.45; XLIII, sura az-zukhruf, v.1 On the exterior of the knuckle-guard in the small bubri devices, allah On the blade, in the small cartouche at one end of the long inscription, sarkar-i khudadad sakht-i dar al-saltanat patan, 'The government bestowed by God. Manufacture of Dar al-Saltanat Patan' The long inscription, Persian verses and a date, shud barq-i jan-i kafiran tigh-i zafar-bunyad-i man sultan-i din haydar buwad dar fath bar imdad-i man sana 4221 'My sword, the essence of which is victory, became lightning for the souls of the unbelievers, Haidar, the Sultan of Religion, is my assistance in victory. Year 4221 (i.e. 1224 Mauludi/1796-7 AD)' In the double leaf-device at the other end of the long inscription, allah akbar muhammad, ‘God is greatest. Muhammad’ Mark on the blade, haydar 1223 (?), ‘Haydar 1223(?)’Please note that this sword lacks its original scabbard contrary to what is written in the printed catalogue.Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (1750-99), ‘The Tiger of Mysore’ served as Sultan of Mysore from 1782 until his death in 1799. The son of Sultan Haidar ‘Ali, Tipu demonstrated his military and diplomatic skills from an early age against the British and Mahrattas. The East India Company recognised that Tipu was probably their most formidable enemy and that his army was one of the greatest threats to their expansion in India. They fought three wars against Tipu and his father, Haidar ‘Ali, between 1767 and 1792. His reputation as the great enemy of the British in India was cemented during the Second Anglo-Mysore War when Tipu humiliated the British with crushing victories at the Pollipur in 1780 and Annagudi in 1782. Meanwhile, Tipu oversaw a period of great wealth for Mysore, with the Sultanate replacing Bengal as the dominant economic power in India and facilitating a blossoming of architectural and artistic patronage. A fine example of this wealth is Tipu’s throne made of gold, jewels and situated below a pearl canopy (a painting of it, by Anna Tonelli in 1800 is illustrated here). Tipu adopted the symbol and iconography of a tiger, an animal with which he held an enduring fascination, as a core part of his royal visual identity. Although the image of the royal tiger was previously used by Indian dynasties such as the Cholas and Hoysalas, Tipu Sultan really made it his own. As Archer, Rowell and Skelton wrote in the catalogue on the Treasures of Powis Castle, Tipu ‘was a consummate self-publicist’ (Mildred Archer, Christopher Rowell and Robert Skelton, Treasures from India. The Clive Collection at Powis Castle, New York, 1987, p.28). The extent and variety of usage of tiger motifs and bubri (tiger-stripe) patterns made the tiger immediately personally emblematic of Tipu Sultan. Images of tigers and bubri motifs were employed in the architecture of palaces and mosques, on hilts, helmets, armour and cannon, and on the uniforms of his personal guard and palace staff (Anne Buddle, The Tiger and the Thistle: Tipu Sultan and the Scots in India 1760-1800, Edinburgh, 1999, pp.22-25). The ruler is famously quoted as saying it is better ‘to live two days as a tiger than a thousand years as a sheep’ (Alexander Beatson, A View of the Origin & Conduct of the War with the Late Tippoo Sultaun, London, 1800, p.153). The British finally overthrew Tipu in 1799 at the Siege of Seringapatam. Betrayed by his ministers, who conspired with the British to weaken the walls of his fortress, Tipu rejected the suggestion of his French military advisors to escape and chose to die fighting. The fall of Seringapatam is remembered as much for the opulence of the fine works of art and courtly objects that were removed from the city after the siege as for the final defeat of this long-standing opponent. Our Sword Just two weeks after the fall of Seringapatam in 1799, the Committee of Prize, appointed by the victorious Anglo-Indian army, presented several of the most important or high profile items from Tipu’s capital to senior civil and military personnel as well as to the British Royal family. Last October we offered in these Rooms a sword, almost identical to that presented here, which had been given by that Committee of Prize, to Cornwallis, the former Governor-General of India (d.1805; 26 October 2023, lot 100). Given his stature as a senior figure whose career had been shaped by his interactions with Tipu, it is no wonder that he was given some of the richest and most important objects and those most closely and directly associated with Tipu Sultan. These included Tipu’s ‘war turban’, now in the National Army Museum (NAM.1971-07-3-1) and two swords. “ That the war Turban of Tippoo Sultan, with a sword worn by him …. be presented to Marquis Cornwallis through the Commander-in-Chief as a mark of their respect” (‘Proceedings of the Committee of Prize’, Madras Artillery Records, vol.II, 17 May 1799). The helmet is almost identical in craftsmanship and aesthetic to the Cornwallis sword, and that offered here now. Made of blued steel, it is similarly densely decorated with text from the Qur’an, written in a gold cursive script. The guard is decorated with tiger’s heads and the green muslin of the helmet is quilted with a bubri pattern. When the Cornwallis sword was presented for sale, two others, with similarly illustrious provenance, were discussed. One had been presented to another senior member of the East India Company and the other to the British monarchy. The first is in Powis Castle, presented to the Edward, 1 st Earl of Powys, Governor of Madras from 1798-1803 and son of Robert ‘Clive of India’ (published in Archer, Rowell and Skelton, op.cit., no.34, p.47 attributed there to the period between 1782 and 1799). The other is in the Royal Collection loosely attributed there to 1750 to 1799, the years of Tipu’s lifetime (RCIN 67211; currently on view in the Grand Vestibule in Windsor Castle). The Powis sword was presented to Clive in November 1799 with a letter from Captain Allan Grant ("Prize and Batta Rolls: Seringapatam 1799 (1800)", British Library, IOR/L/MIL/5/159) whilst the Windsor sword was presented to George III (r. 1760-1820) by General Lord Adam Gordon before his death in 1801. The three share the same overall form with a hilt culminating in a tiger’s head and all are covered in similar inscriptions which convey the fundamental Islamic concepts of victory in war. Our sword, and another, in the Furusiyya Collection (published Bashir Mohamed, The Art of the Muslim Knight, Milan, 2007) add two others to this small corpus. There are subtle differences between each of the swords in this small group. One feature found on the present sword, and the Cornwallis one, but seemingly not shared by the others, is a date given according to the mauludi calendar. The reading of the Cornwallis date was slightly ambiguous (most likely 1224). Here it is clearly 1224 (the equivalent of 1796-97 AD), written both on the blade and under the quillons. In Arabic, maulud means ‘birth’, and Tipu Sultan marked the birth of the Prophet in the year 572 which he marked as the first year in his calendar. The Mauludi calendar was not based on the Lunar Islamic Hijri calendar but entirely on the Luni-Solar Hindu Panchanga calendar followed by his subjects across Mysore. This matching of calendars proved helpful in his administration, as things like harvesting seasons, festival periods and tax deadlines matched. On the basis of the date on our sword and the Cornwallis example, a more precise date can be suggested for the two previously published swords. Another feature that sets our sword apart from its closest comparables is a small control stamp with the name Haidar contained within a small bubri motif that is found on both the blade and the hilt. Again this was shared by the Cornwallis example but not the others. A feature that sets the present sword apart, even from the Cornwallis example, is that it has a Mysore blade, rather than a European one. It may be because of this that it has been somewhat shortened - a deliberate act of defacing the work of the enemy. In the Proceedings of 1799, the sword presented to Cornwallis was described as a ‘sword worn by him’ [Tipu] indicating that it was a personal sword of Tipu. Indeed if one looks at the watercolour of Tipu on his throne, by Anna Tonelli who accompanied Lady Henrietta Clive, wife of Edward, on her trip around South India as governess to the Clive children in 1800, one sees the Sultan seated on his throne holding in one hand a sword that looks remarkably similar to that offered here, of the same shape, and with a tiger head at the base of the hilt, where it meets the blade. Although Tonelli's watercolour was painted in 1800 following the siege of Seringapatam, her depiction of Tipu, his appearance and the throne is based upon sketches and accounts from British soldiers present at the siege and information from Tipu Sultan's treasurer (Archer, Rowell and Skelton, op.cit., p.134). Informed as it was by one of Tipu's closest officials, it must be as accurate a posthumous representation of the Sultan and his royal accoutrements as one could achieve. This is one of a small group of swords that were considered as the most important of all Tipu’s weapons at the time, indicated by the known identities of the three of the five recipients. Although we don’t know the recipient of this sword, it is likely to have been to a similarly illustrious figure. The dealer by whom it was sold is said to have bought it from a member of the aristocratic house of Hanover, but unfortunately there is nothing to substantiate this. What is clear is that this is a spectacular weapon that was regarded as the ultimate prize just a few years after its creation.

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伊斯蘭與印度世界藝術品包括地毯

伊斯蘭與印度世界藝術品包括地毯

2024年04月25日 18:00

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